Hunter Rugby Union: University centre to front judiciary for lifting tackle

Beitaki was given a red card for a lifting tackle on Wanderers centre Harry Sainsbury in the first half of the Students' 39-7 loss to the Two Blues in the final round on Saturday.

"It was probably borderline yellow or red card," University coach Sam Berry said. "We are disappointed that they went the higher charge. We will defend it. We are waiting on the referee's report to see the reason for it being a red card. We will build a case after that.

"Tyrone is a very quiet guy. I don't think he has ever received a card before. It was unlucky. That is the way rugby is now with some of these rules. A few years ago it might have been a penalty. Now you are looking at yellow and red cards."

Beitaki, a lightning fast centre, is one of the Students' strike weapons out wide.

"He would certainly be a big loss," Berry said. "He is the quickest player in the team and has had a very good season.

"We would probably look at Macauley Aoake or Jack Stanford at 13."

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The Students have already lost blindside breakaway Cam Fisher to a syndesmosis injury.

Minor premiers Maitland will take on Merewether in the major semi-final on Saturday.

The Blacks and Greens are in contrasting form.

Maitland overpowered Southern Beaches 41-5 at Ernie Calland Oval to extend their winning streak to nine games.

The Green suffered their fifth loss in six games, going down 40-29 at Townson Oval.

The Hawks trailed 12-0 early and 17-14 at half time.

However, the win wasn't enough to move into the top four..

At No.2 Sportrsground, Berry opted to sit out fly-half Dane Sherratt, prop Sapati Peniata, inside centre Josh Meads, No.8 Toa Havea, lock Joe Kingham and fullback Baye Wallace against Wanderers.

All six have two yellow cards for the season. One more incurs a one-game suspension.

"I would have liked to have played most of those players," he said. "After speaking with them, it wasn't worth the risk of missing a semi for a game that didn't matter.

"Other than Dane, most of those guys have played nearly every minute. Toa had a rep campaign in there as well. They probably deserved a little rest.

"They will certainly provide a lift. It has been such a hard season. We have had to scrap for every point."

Wanderers led 12-7 when Beitaki was given his marching orders.

Nimi Qio was at his tackle-busting best for the Two Blues.

The Fijian No.8 set up two tries and scored brilliant solo effort, using two would-be defenders as speed humps in a 80-metre burst down the short side from the back of a scum.

Lock Marcus Christensen was also strong and swivelled over from close range to open a 17-7 advantage at half time.

The Two Blues added tries to Qio, replacement George Ashworth, halfback Charles Fielder and debutant winger Archie Waerea.

"We take quite a bit out of it," Berry said. "Playing 50 minutes with 14 men and having four on debut, it could have got nasty at the end. I was impressed with our scrum and our defence was generally OK except for a couple of one-on-one tackles on Nimi. We probably bombed one or two tries."